“Years later, people don’t remember ordinary days.
They remember how those ordinary days made them feel.”
The Friday afternoon sun hung lazily over Hanyoung Middle School.
The last class had finally ended.
As usual…
The hallway exploded with noise.
Heosok stretched his arms.
“I survived another week.”
Jisoo walked beside him.
“That’s a very dramatic way of saying you attended school.”
“I prefer dramatic.”
“We noticed.”
Jiwoo skipped ahead of everyone.
“Weekend!”
She threw both hands into the air.
“I can finally forget math exists.”
“It’ll remember you.”
Jisoo replied.
“…Unfortunately.”
Outside the school gate…
The six of them gathered again.
Heosok looked around.
“So…”
“Any plans?”
Yongi answered without looking up from his book.
“…Reading.”
Jiwoo nodded.
“I somehow knew that.”
“What about you?”
He looked at her.
Jisoo thought for a moment.
“…Probably annoying Jiwoo.”
“I’m unavailable.”
“You never are.”
Suddenly…
Heosok stopped walking.
“Oh.”
“I’ve got an idea.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Let’s take a picture.”
Silence.
Jisoo blinked.
“…Why?”
“So that one day…”
He smiled.
“…when we’re old…”
“…we can laugh at how terrible our hairstyles were.”
Jiwoo immediately raised her hand.
“I support this important historical event.”
Yongi quietly closed his book.
“…I’ve never really liked taking photos.”
Jiwoo smiled.
“Exactly.”
“That’s why we’re taking one.”
A small convenience store stood across the street.
An elderly shopkeeper smiled as they approached.
“Need some help?”
Heosok held up his phone.
“Could you take a picture for us?”
“Of course.”
The six of them stood together.
At first…
It felt awkward.
No one knew where to stand.
Jiwoo suddenly grabbed Jeheon’s wrist.
“Come here.”
“You’re too far away.”
Before Jeheon could react…
Heosok threw an arm around his shoulder.
“There.”
“Now you can’t escape.”
Jisoo sighed.
“You two act like children.”
“We are children.”
Heosok replied proudly.
Yongi quietly stood beside Jiwoo.
Not because anyone told him to.
It just happened.
Zaizai, who had come to meet Jiwoo after school, smiled from a short distance away, watching the group without interrupting them.
The shopkeeper raised the phone.
“Ready?”
Jiwoo suddenly shouted,
“Wait!”
Everyone froze.
She looked at Yongi.
“…You’re smiling too little.”
“I’m smiling.”
“Barely.”
“…This is my maximum.”
Jiwoo laughed.
“Good enough.”
The shopkeeper counted.
“Three…”
“Two…”
“One…”
Click.
The moment disappeared.
Captured forever.
The shopkeeper handed the phone back.
“There you go.”
Heosok looked at the picture.
“…Wow.”
“What?”
Jiwoo asked.
“We actually look like friends.”
Nobody answered.
Because…
For the first time…
It was true.
As the group continued walking home…
None of them noticed…
A man standing across the road.
He quietly watched the six teenagers laughing together.
His expression never changed.
He pulled a photograph from his coat.
It was old.
The edges were worn.
He looked at it.
Then looked back at the students.
“…History…”
he murmured quietly,
“…has a strange habit of repeating itself.”
A gust of wind carried the words away.
The photograph slipped back into his pocket.
And he disappeared into the crowd.